Iseul:

Only a day had passed since that incident and you were already determined to earn 3 million won to pay the gang. You were certain that they would accept the money. They had too.  Earning 3 million would be easy right? Plus you had already saved around 2 million won so technically, you only needed a million won. Having part time jobs here and there will solve the problem for sure. But first you had to pass your biggest barrier. Taking a leave from school would be a little tricky.

"What?", the deputy head raised his voice. You bit your lip. "My dad is not feeling well so I need to take 2 weeks off. I'm sorry.", you repeated, bowing. The deputy head gave you a stern look and sighed. "This is unacceptable. You are in the 3rd year and there's no time to be messing around. Don't you have any relatives who can look after your father?", he asked. "No. It's just me and my dad.", you uttered. The deputy head sighed. "Fine. I'll let you this time but don't make this become a habit. This year is important. You cannot make sudden leaves like this." "This will be the last time, I promise.", you claimed. "Okay, good. And just to let you know, we cannot provide you the notes that you will miss. You have to catch up on that yourself.", he sternly stated. "Oh..I'm fine with that.", you assured him. "Then you may leave."

So you left school and immediately started searching for jobs. You needed that money urgently. So here you were at your first job, cleaning tables in a restaurant for 6 hours straight. " You can take your leave now!", the manager yelled over with a smile. "Oh, okay, thank you!", you yelled back. You immediately took of your gloves and stored the cleaning equipment back in the store room. "I'm leaving now! Thank you!", you bowed at the manager before rushing out to your next job which was delivering food. Great.

You had been shifting between 4 jobs a day. A waitress in the morning, a cleaner in the afternoon, a deliverer in the evening and a baby-sitter in the night. You were dead by the time you were finished but all your hard work paid off. By a week's time you had earned more than a million won and that was the biggest accomplishment you had made in your life. 

You were at your dorm again. You retrieved your piggy bank from your draw and smashed it onto your bed, revealing notes. You then got out the money you earnt from work. You laid the notes out onto your bed and started counting for some minutes. "2 million won...3 million...4 million won!", you yelped in excitement as you managed to earn this much. You could now rest in peace as you had more than enough money. You planned to give 4 million won instead of 3 million won just incase it wasn't enough to cover up the delay of the money. An extra one million won is more than enough to cover the 1 week delay right? The gang had to accept it. 

You decided to visit your dad at the hospital to tell him the good news. But he was slightly taken aback. 

"Huh? Don't be stupid. Just go home for now.", your dad snapped. "Appa! I'm telling you, I have the money! Just tell me where to go to find them!", you yelled. Your dad sighed. "They are not going to accept the money, trust me. I'll deal with them. Don't get involved, okay? They are dangerous.", he stated. "I don't care! You are not going to be safe either if that's the case! Appa, don't tell me you owe them more money than this?", you gawked at him. "I don't owe them anything else, don't worry, I'll deal-" You interrupted your dad. "I'm telling you, I know what to do! I have 4 million won okay? They would have to accept it! Why would they beat you up like that for just money? Trust me, they will accept it. Just tell me where I have to go to find them.", you repeated yourself, clutching onto your dad's hand. Your dad sighed before letting out a weak smile. "Aish, this careless child." "Yep, that's me! A careless child!", you grinned. "Okay, fine. Then, if you're going, take Jongdae with you.", your dad suddenly stated making you jump. "What?" you repeated yourself, making sure you heard that right. "Take Jongdae with you.", he grinned. "Jongdae? Why?! Wouldn't he wonder why I'm going there?!", you yelled. "He knows everything. I don't have time to explain these things to you. Just go with him if you're going. That's all.", your dad announced. You gaped at your dad unbelieveably. You knew that Jongdae picked fights with gangs but this was a little unexpected. "Oh...", you muttered resulting your dad to laugh. "Iseul-ah, be safe okay?", he asked and you nodded. "Then, I'll see you later. Appa is really tired right now.", he chuckled. You pouted. "Okay then, I'll visit later. Bye appa!", you beamed. "Bye daughter!", he smiled.

You left the hospital and immediately made your way to Jongdae's house. However Jongdae wasn't surprised to see you. "Oh, so you came.", he grinned. You raised your eyebrows but then stopped as your dad probably told Jongdae that you might be coming over. You gritted you teeth. "Oh, hello, Kim Jongdae, how are you?", you sarcastically greeted him as he was not capable of doing that himself. He chuckled. "I'm fine thank you." "Good for you." you muttered. "Why are you always moody?", he asked. "How do you know the gang?", you asked, ignoring his question. "Ah, that. I guess your dad hasn't told you. I don't think I should then.", Jongdae grinned. You sent him daggers. "Just tell me!", you yelled, hitting his back. "Whoa whoa whoa. Calm down! When did you get this violent?", he teasingly chuckled. You gave up on him and turned away with a snort. Just because he was 5 years older than you, he thought it was alright to tease you. I need to start giving him a silent treatment if this carries on.

"Fine, I'll tell you!", Jongdae yelled. You turned around with a beam. "Okay tell me.", you smirked.

"This child. Fine, I'll tell you. When you were about 3 years old, your dad used to live with me right? Because he was lonely at that time he gambled a lot and met that gang. They became friends and they even came to my house once. But a couple of years ago, you dad wanted to stop gambling but he still owed them money. The gang said that your dad could leave as long as he paid back the money. However, your dad paid some of it back but not all of it. So the gang chased your dad every month, asking for about 1 million won.” “A million won a month?!”, you gawked. “It’s not that much to be honest. If your dad paid the whole money together, he would have probably sold his properties. But yeah, one time he stopped paying so they broke into my house. I was your age I think. They broke into the house and I wasn’t there. Only my mum and my grandma. They threatened them saying that if your dad doesn't pay, they would take everything in this house and lives too if it was necessary. They said they would come back if your dad hadn’t paid after a week. Your dad was guilty and he said he wanted to move out but we didn’t let him. Then the guys came back like they’d said, and because your dad didn’t have the money, they were furious. My dad said he would pay but it was too late. The gang crashed my house, damaged everything and my grandma was injuried. I couldn’t stand back and watch so I hit them. It was a bloody experience. We all went to the hospital and after getting admitted, I got called over to the police station. Apparently I broke those guys' bones and their injuries were severe. But nothing happened. I got let out the day after.”, he chuckled.  You felt so guilty, “My dad had caused you so much trouble , I'm sorry.” “Are you stupid? Your dad is like my dad. We are all in this together. Even after all this, your dad left our house and told us to move to his old house. We moved and we are all good! Your dad is amazing, okay? But I see those guys are after him again.”, he sighed. “Yeah…”, you muttered, lost in thought. "Then lets go and kick their .”, he howled, pulling his arms around your shoulder and dragging you to the bus-stop.

Even though you hated him at times, you liked him at times like this too. Despite all the problems you caused him, he was always willing to help.

You both got off the bus and walked down a long dark street.  You then followed Jongdae